I am so blessed. Through the years, my friends have been some of my biggest supporters. I started doing photos for Jodi 12 years ago! I have photographed personal portraits for her, engagement photos, wedding (the ones I could capture when I wasn’t too busy being a bridesmaid), newborn, milestone, and family. As the kids […]

I am so blessed. Through the years, my friends have been some of my biggest supporters. I started doing photos for Jodi 12 years ago! I have photographed personal portraits for her, engagement photos, wedding (the ones I could capture when I wasn’t too busy being a bridesmaid), newborn, milestone, and family. As the kids have gotten older, things have become a bit more chaotic lol, but even so, the session’s with the Buche’s is one of my favorite sessions of every year.

This year Jocelyn was a bit less enthusiastic about taking photos and gave me a run for my money (no need to go to the gym and lift weights for a few days after this session) but we still managed to get some super cute ones! Maddox had a pretty good time with the car – in out, in out. Mom and Dad got pretty darn tired and were ready for a nap after.

Funny thing is that so often, it’s mom and dad’s faces that run the family photos! Their faces scream – oh my gosh, if you don’t sit still and smile for 5 freaking seconds I’m going to… haha! Yet they are the ones not smiling. I often have to head swap parents faces more than children. At every family session, I have to remind the parents that they need to act like they are having a great time. Family photos are like social media… It always looks like everyone else’s professional photos are perfect and you wonder why yours were a nightmare. Fact – almost everyone ones are a nightmare.

Pro Photographer Tip: This one goes out to the parents. When your kids are aking like jerks, threatening to take away or throw away everything they love and that they no longer are going to get the treat promised to them for taking photos NEVER works to get the kids to behave. Weird, I know haha! I hear these statements at pretty much every single child session I shoot and every time it makes things worse. Instead, wait until after the photo shoot is over to tell them you are throwing away all their precious toys haha! 🙂

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Today, let’s talk about the importance of editing on a high-end graphic design monitor that is calibrated, as well as running test prints. Recently, I did a newborn photo session for a good friend of mine’s daughter, Sweet Ms. Reese. Prior to this session, my trusty monitor went out. We’d had a good run, over […]

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Today, let’s talk about the importance of editing on a high-end graphic design monitor that is calibrated, as well as running test prints. Recently, I did a newborn photo session for a good friend of mine’s daughter, Sweet Ms. Reese. Prior to this session, my trusty monitor went out. We’d had a good run, over 10 years in the making. But then one day the screen went black, never to be turned on again. When it comes to electronics and spending money, I spend a great deal of time researching the best possible option for the lowest possible price. You could probably call researching a pastime of mine because I’m so obsessed with making perfect choices. So, my monitor went out and I knew it was going to take me some time to research, order, receive, and set up a new monitor but I had this current session due in a week. I turned to my little brother in desperation who was about to be deployed for a year. He’s a bit of a gamer and when hanging out at his place, I had taken note that his monitors looked really nice. So I set one up, ran my calibrator, and went to work. All the images I looked at on my computer looked pretty great so I figured I was good to go.

Fast forward two weeks and my friend/client has received her edited photos in time, I’ve put an example up on social media and I’m super excited about how pretty they are. Win! Right? Well, I thought so until I navigated to my facebook business page from my phone to respond to a message and saw the most horrific image staring at me. My heart sank! The photo that looked so beautiful on my computer monitor was over contrasted and blown out on my phone. Everything else on my phone looked normal so I wondered if I had saved the image in the wrong format. Checked that and no, it was standard web RGB. Darn. So then I ran a test print on my pro printer: the Canon PRO9000 (which I highly recommend if you want to print large format at home. It’s kind of old but that means you can pick it up for real cheap!). Sure enough, the photo looked just like it did on my phone. Next, I contacted friends to look and take a screenshot on their phones. Same problem, which one friend stating she thought the photo looked funny but she didn’t want to insult me by saying anything. Finally, it popped into my head that I was working on a new monitor. Even though I had thought I had done my diligence by calibrating, maybe that wasn’t enough. So I borrowed a friends pro monitor and re-edited my photo and sure enough, the newly edited photo looked amazing. I ended up buying my dream monitor, the BenQ SW271 pro graphic design monitor because I mentally just couldn’t chance picking something cheaper that ended up not performing well. It’s a real beaut! But that isn’t enough. During my education, while working in the camera industry, I learned that monitors are often calibrated to be extra contrasty which makes images pop and videos look amazing but is not ideal for editing accurate photos. For several years I’ve been relying on the x-rite i1 display pro monitor calibrator. It’s so easy to use and the different it makes is unreal.

Moral of my story is that it truly is essential to invest in a pro monitor. The cost bites but your images will look a million times more professional. Second, always check your images by a secondary source before delivering to a client. Whether it’s making a cheap test print at home or loading the photos to your photo to check them on another screen, it’s always best to double check. For many years, I worked where there was a pro photo lab. After editing nearly every shoot I’d run off a test print in the lab just to check for accuracy. Sometimes when our profession becomes second nature, we forgot to step back to the basics and for me, it was also losing that convenience factor – no longer working where I had lab access and so many years of successful outcomes, I got too comfortable. So here is the before and after. Crazy, right?

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HAIR! Look at all that gorgeous hair! And those beautiful skin tones, too. Miss Sawyer was such a doll to photograph. Mom requested bright colors and they turned out so amazing against her skin tone. I’m fairly certain I have more props and backdrops than the stuff I own in my entire house. I have […]

HAIR! Look at all that gorgeous hair! And those beautiful skin tones, too. Miss Sawyer was such a doll to photograph. Mom requested bright colors and they turned out so amazing against her skin tone. I’m fairly certain I have more props and backdrops than the stuff I own in my entire house. I have an addiction! #propaholic When it comes to backdrops, almost every drop I own is from Intuition Backdrops. I just love her stuff.

If you are looking at my work and loving it but looking at my pricing and feel like it’s awfully high for photos – remember that I am a stylized newborn photographer. I provide the drops, clothes, wraps, props, headbands, outfits, layers… on top of the camera gear, lights, and studio. For the average newborn session, the props used often retail a total of $500+. On top of that, I only use props a few times so that everyone’s photos are unique to them. I often say that I’m not sure if I make money off of newborns because I’m always buying new props! So, when you compare pricing between photographers, remember the extra value in my sessions, on top of the over 15 years of experience, years of teaching others, studio costs, and business costs. Anyone can take photos but it takes a lot of experience, training, and equipment to achieve this type of work.

This has nothing to do with Miss Sawyers session except for the fact that I love all the props used for her session. They were expensive but oh so gorgeous! Sawyer was such a sweet pea today. She slept so well. Also, please note that I specialize in babies of all skin colors! Please bring me your Hispanic, black, native, Asian, mixed and everything in between, beauties!

Pro Tip: Always heat your studio to be at least 80 degrees. Crazy, right? It’s like a sauna but the babies LOVE it. I have had so many parents leave their session to then go buy their baby a mini heater and report back how much longer baby slept. Win! In all my year, I have only ever met one newborn who didn’t like the heat.

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There is something about photographing little boys in neutral colors; it is just so sweet and innocent. This handsome little man was so much fun to hang out with. Sometimes, little ones show up for their session wide awake with no desire to take a nap for me. When this happens, we improvise. Posing awake […]

There is something about photographing little boys in neutral colors; it is just so sweet and innocent. This handsome little man was so much fun to hang out with. Sometimes, little ones show up for their session wide awake with no desire to take a nap for me. When this happens, we improvise. Posing awake babies on their stomach can be both dangerous and counter productive. When this happens, we switch to back poses. We were able to capture some super cute photos of Mr Mavericks eyes and his little personality. The basket in this first photo was purchased from Intuition Backgrounds – a favorite shop of mine. The brown basket fluff was purchased from Oh So Fleeting – their products are sooo soft and beautiful, I can’t recommend enough!

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Meet sweet Ms. Dolores. Because I love her name so much, I have to add in here that Dolores was named after her grandmothers on each family side. That right, both her Mom and Dad had grandmothers named Dolores. So neat! Ms Dolores is the daughter of a good friend of mine, as well an […]

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Meet sweet Ms. Dolores. Because I love her name so much, I have to add in here that Dolores was named after her grandmothers on each family side. That right, both her Mom and Dad had grandmothers named Dolores. So neat! Ms Dolores is the daughter of a good friend of mine, as well an entire family I’m rather fond of, the Hecklingers. For Ms D’s session, I asked her Mom if she had any requests for the setup. Purples, greens, all natural / nature. The two green fluffs are from one of my favorite vendors Oh So Fleeting. They really are as soft as they look. The round basket is one that I’ve had several people contact me wanting to know where I got it. It came from Pier One probably 10 years ago, so sorry on that one. They are tough to find! The twig bed can be purchased several places, I went with Intuition Backdrops, who if you don’t know, also sell an awesome variety of props.

Do note that the photo above is a composite. Mom was holding the baby in the background. Due to safety reasons, I highly recommend never letting young siblings hold babies on their own.

That’s me and my new friend! Ms D was a perfect angel for her session… but as soon as we were done and I want to snap a quick photo with her she was like… no way lady, get me out of here! Hehe!

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When a bride as beautiful and sweet as Dana inquires about having their wedding photographed – I seriously jump up and down. It’s wedding couples like these two that make me truly love my job. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I had getting to spend the day photographing this intimate wedding. […]

When a bride as beautiful and sweet as Dana inquires about having their wedding photographed – I seriously jump up and down. It’s wedding couples like these two that make me truly love my job. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I had getting to spend the day photographing this intimate wedding.

If you haven’t been to one of Minneapolis’ hottest new hotels “Hewing Hotel”, I can not recommend it enough – especially if you’re a bride who wants gorgeous getting ready photos on your wedding day. Their elite suites are picturesque.

In 15 years, this was the first wedding where the couple requested their formal photos be taken in the lobby of a hotel. As a photographer who’s been in hundreds of hotels, this immediately made me cringe but the results were absolutely stunning!!! Thank you Hewing Hotel for designing your lobby with photographers in mind.

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If you are an engaged couple who loves to have fun – contact me soon about booking your wedding. I can customize a package to work within just about any budget – just ask! Don’t want to spend your wedding day stuck in front of a camera or wishing you could have your pictures taken somewhere other than your venue? No problem! Let’s do an after wedding portrait session at the location of your choice. These are SO much fun!!!

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Meet sweet Ms. Clara Bear! I’m so in love with those cheeks. Ms. Clara is the daughter of my friends Emily & Mike, whose wedding I also photographed. I’m always tickled pink when I then get the opportunity to photograph the babies of former wedding clients. I always love the clean pure look that cream […]

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Meet sweet Ms. Clara Bear! I’m so in love with those cheeks. Ms. Clara is the daughter of my friends Emily & Mike, whose wedding I also photographed. I’m always tickled pink when I then get the opportunity to photograph the babies of former wedding clients.

I always love the clean pure look that cream brings to photos. It’s often my go-to color scheme for parents who are unsure what colors they’d like to use.

It’s pretty rare that newborns smile, let alone that I just happen to have my camera ready to shoot the moment it happens! I just LOVE these moments!

Oh my goodness! Clara looks JUST like her mama in this photo! It’s like looking at a flashback, eeek! <3

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Eeeeek! Sweet precious Ms Madison came to the studio for her photo debut with her gorgeous peachy skin tones and rose red cheeks. I was so excited to break out this quilt backdrop by Intuition Backdrops that I’ve been saving for a special little subject. Madison was just a little peanut, which is extra fun […]

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Eeeeek! Sweet precious Ms Madison came to the studio for her photo debut with her gorgeous peachy skin tones and rose red cheeks. I was so excited to break out this quilt backdrop by Intuition Backdrops that I’ve been saving for a special little subject. Madison was just a little peanut, which is extra fun when picking props to use. I love using layers in my newborn photos and I find that you can discover new affordable layers just about anywhere. The lacy scarf was purchased from the world market on a day they had all scarves 50% off. I also locate a lot of fun layers in the scarf sections at used clothing stores such as Clothes Mentor and Style Encore, and sometimes even Goodwill.

I love to photograph the tips of baby toes! One of my favorite photos to capture – but it takes a very sleepy baby to get a sharp fine focus shot. If you are thinking about photographing newborns, one must own lens is a macro lens so that you can creatively capture all the little baby parts. Canon’s 100mm F2.8 IS L lens was used to photograph these toes.

Mom brought along this super cute knit owl outfit. Kinda want a hat like that for myself!

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One of my most cherished tasks is when I get to photograph my beautiful friends on their special day (ok in all honesty, it’s a close second to being bridesmaid). Thank you for including me in your day, my friend, Becky and long time friend (Brian) Berg! I wish you a long happy life together […]

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One of my most cherished tasks is when I get to photograph my beautiful friends on their special day (ok in all honesty, it’s a close second to being bridesmaid). Thank you for including me in your day, my friend, Becky and long time friend (Brian) Berg! I wish you a long happy life together and I can’t WAIT to photograph baby Bergs!

Monica Geller-Bing: Chandler, for so long I wondered if I would ever find my prince, my soul mate. Then three years ago, at another wedding, I turned to a friend for comfort. And instead, I found everything that I’d ever been looking for my whole life. And now here we are with our future before us and I only want to spend it with you, my prince, my soulmate, my friend. Unless you don’t want to. You go!

Chandler Bing: Monica, I though this was going to be the most difficult thing I ever had to do. But when i saw you walking down that aisle, I realized how simple it was. I love you. And surprises that come our way, it’s ok, because I will always love you. You are the person I was meant to spend the rest of my life with. You wanna know if I’m sure?

Joey Tribbiani: You may now kiss the bride. So I guess by the powers vested in me by the state of New York and the internet guys, I now pronounce you husband and wife. O WAIT! Do you take eachother?

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Boy has time flown by, I can not believe Deanna is already 1-years-old! You would never know by these photos that she wasn’t happy to have her pictures taken. As I always say, no matter how rough a session might go with your little ones, I promise you, every parent is always impressed by the […]

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Boy has time flown by, I can not believe Deanna is already 1-years-old! You would never know by these photos that she wasn’t happy to have her pictures taken. As I always say, no matter how rough a session might go with your little ones, I promise you, every parent is always impressed by the outcome of the pictures.